Making Your Creative Mark – Q & A with Eric Maisel
An Interview with EricMaisel
Author of Making Your Creative Mark
Eric Maiselis the author of Making Your Creative Mark and twenty other creativity titlesincluding Mastering Creative Anxiety, Brainstorm, Creativity for Life, and Coachingthe Artist Within. Maisel is widelyknown as a creativity expert who coaches individuals and trains creativitycoaches through workshops and keynotes nationally and internationally. He hasblogs on the Huffington Post and Psychology Today and writes a column forProfessional Artist Magazine. Visithim online at http://www.ericmaisel.com.
You’veorganized the book around nine keys. Can you highlight one or two of them forus?
I start with the“mind key” because I believe that getting a grip on our thoughts and doing abetter job of thinking thoughts that actually serve us are supremely importantskills to master. Most people do a poor job of “minding their mind” andchoosing to think in ways that serve them. It is a completely common practicefor people to present themselves with thoughts that amount to self-sabotage andto refuse to dispute those thoughts once they arise. If people did a better jobof “minding their mind” by noticing what they were thinking and by making aneffort to replace defensive and unproductive thoughts with less defensive andmore productive thoughts, they would live in less pain and they would givethemselves a much better chance of living the life they dream of living. Thisis doubly true for artists who can doubt their talent, take criticism tooseriously, find a hundred ways to avoid the hard working of creating, and more.There’s really nothing more important than getting a grip on your own thoughts!
Whydo you think someone would want to gamble everything on a life in the arts whenit’s so hard to make it as an artist?
Human beings crave the psychologicalexperience of meaning. We want that almost more than we want anything else.There are maybe a score of ways that human beings regularly generate thatpsychological experience: through service, through relationships, by excelling,by seizing new experiences – and by creating. Creating is one of our primemeaning opportunities and for many people the most important. Therefore folkswho decide to devote themselves to an art discipline aren’t making some sort ofcalculation about risk versus reward. What they are doing is honoring theirneed to make their own meaning. If you look at a life in the arts as a smartcareer choice it doesn’t make that much sense; if you look at it as atremendous meaning opportunity, it makes perfect sense.
Youpresent what you call “the stress key.” What are some of your top tips forreducing the stress that a life in the arts produces?
Life producesstress, the artistic personality produces additional stress, creating produceseven more stress, and living the artist’s life is the topper! An artist mustlearn how to deal with all of these stressors—and how to deal with themeffectively. There are many tactics an artist can try—the key is actually tryingsome! You might try “writing your stress away.” Research reported in the Journal of the American Medical Associationsuggests that writing about stressful situations and experiences can reduce yourstress levels – and can actually lead to improvements in immune functioning,fewer visits to the doctor, and an increased sense of well-being. You canreframe a given demand as an opportunity, turning your “stressful” upcominggallery show into a golden opportunity. You can have a fruitful conversationwith yourself and answer the following four questions: 1. What are my currentstressors? 2. What unhealthy strategies am I currently employing to deal withthese stressors? 3. What healthy strategies am I currently employing to dealwith these stressors? 4. What new stress management strategies would I like tolearn? An artist needs to honor the reality of stress and make plans fordealing with it!
Is there one habit or practice thatreally makes a difference between getting your creative work done and notgetting it done?
Yes. The mostimportant practice an artist can institute is a morning creativity practicewhere she carves out some time bright and early every day, five, six or sevendays a week, to work on her novel, practice her instrument, or get right to herpainting studio. There are three important reasons to institute a morningcreativity practice. The first reason is the most obvious one—you’ll be gettinga lot of creative work done! Even if only a percentage of what you do pleasesyou, by virtue of working regularly you’ll start to create a body of work.That’ll feel good! A second reason is that you get to make use of your “sleepthinking”—you get to make use of whatever your brain has been thinking aboutall night. Create first thing and capture those thoughts that have beenpercolating all night! The third reason is that, by creating first thing,you’ll have the experience of making some meaning on that day and the rest ofthe day can pass in a half-meaningless way and you won’t get depressed! Gettingright to your creative work first thing each day provides you with a daily shotof meaningfulness. That’s a lot of goodness to get from one practice.
I’dlike you to chat a bit about what you call the “freedom key.” What sort offreedom are you talking about?
Many differentsorts—let’s look at just one, the freedom not be perfect; or, to put itslightly differently, the freedom to make big mistakes and messes. Not so longago I got an email from a painter in Rhode Island. She wrote, “I'm a perfectionist and I want my artwork to beperfect. Sometimes this prevents me from getting started on a new project orfrom finishing the one I’m currently working on. I think to myself: If it's notgoing to be the best, why bother to do it? How do I move past these feelings?”One way to get out of this trap is to move from a purely intellectualunderstanding that messes are part of the creative process to a genuine visceralunderstanding of that truth. Youneed to feel that freedom in your body. As an intellectual matter, every artistknows that some percentage of her work will prove less than stellar, especiallyif she is taking risks with subject matter or technique. But accepting that obvious truth on afeeling level eludes far too many creative and would-be creative people. Theywant to “perfect” things in their head before turning to the canvas or thecomputer screen and a result they stay in their head and never get started. Youhave to feel free to show up and make a big mess—only then will good thingsstart happening!
Anotherkey that interested me is what you call the “relationship key.” What sorts ofrelationships did you have in mind and what can an artist do to improve hisrelationship skills?
All sorts ofrelationships! And relationships in the arts are frequently very complicated.You may be very friendly with a fellow painter and also quite envious of her.You may actively dislike a gallery owner or a collector but decide that he istoo valuable to cast aside, maybe because he is your only advocate or your onlycustomer. You may respect your editor’s opinions but despise the rudeness withwhich she delivers them. There may be no such thing as a genuinelystraightforward relationship anywhere in life but relationships in the arts arethat much more complicated andshadowy. The main improvement an artist can make is to actually think about thematter! You can decide how you want to be in relationships but only if youactively decide. You get to decide if you want to be honest and straightforwardeven if others aren’t, if you want to be polite and diplomatic even if othersaren’t, if you want to be quiet and calm even if others are stirring the potand making dramas. It may not prove easy to be the person you want to be at alltimes and in all situations, especially since the marketplace has a way ofthrowing us off our game, but you can nevertheless hold the intention to try yourdarnedest to be the “you” you would most like to be. This takes thought and preparation!
If you'd like to purchase your copy of Maisel's new book via my amazon associate book store, please feel free to use the links that I provided above.
Until next time, all the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,
Jill
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